Washing-machine wringer



Jan. 19 1926.

A. J. FISHER WASHING MACHINE wnmssa Filed May 7. 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jan. 19 1926.

. A. J. FISHER WASHING MACHINE WRINGER 4' Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 7, 1921 All/Ll fZZEr/fez- Jan. 19 1926. 7 1,569,859

A. J. FISHER WASHING MACHINE WRINGER File M y '2. 1921 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 A Ill/110111114 4 Imam f .izsfier naw MMV/MW Jan. 19 1926.

A. J. FISHER WASHING MACHINE WRINGER Filed May 7 1921 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 HWDQIMMMQ UNITED STAT I 1,569,859 PATENT OFFICE.

ALVA .1. Hanna,- or nvms ron. ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR To Enemy mncnmz courm, or crncaeo, ILLINOIS, a CORPORATION or rumors.

wnsame-uacnrivn wnmezn.

Application filed Kay 7,

To all whom it may 'covwern:

Be it known that I, ALVA J. FISHER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Evanston,'in the countyof Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Washing-Machine Wringers, of which the following is a specification.

My, invention relates to improvements in washing machine wringers, and 1n some of its features more particularly to wringers that may be rotated in a horizontal. plane,

relative to a vertical su port which is car ried on a washing machine frame, and that may be power-driven by gearing actuated from the washing machine motor.

Among the objects of my invention are I to provide a wrin er structure/that is simple, eflicient, suita le for quantity production at low expense, durable, and equipped for maximum insurance. of safety to the operator. Further objects of my invention are to, provide advantageous structure for the mounting of the wrin er to enable its parts to;,be assembled. an knocked down readily with minimum use of tools (as for roll-replacement); to rovide for suitable segregation of the lubricated and non-lubricated parts to prevent injury to fabrics wrung; to insure eflicient and safe control of the power-operation of the swingable A wringer ;-to provide strong and simple structure for the overhanging wringer; to gen- .erally improve the wringer construction and to provide a suitable and desirable roll-tension release. "Other and further ob ects and advanta es will become a parent those skilled in the. art from t e following descriptiontakenin coniunction wlth the accompanying drawings wherein Fig. 1s a side elevation showing the mounted 'wnnger, in connection with portionsof its aring;

Fig. '2 .is an enlarged central vertical section, with parts broken away; Fig. 3 is aerspective 'detailf of a OOIItI'OHiDiiIdPdIQ; i.4isafragmen section w1nga sa icy-release construction; F1 5 1s a fragmentary motion on line 5-5 0 Fig. 1; Fig.

6 is a fragmentary section on line 6-6 of 1;'F1g.7 is' asectionon line 7-7 of Fig; 1; Fig. 8' isa entary detail of wringer-construction 9 shows a guide plate, detached.

To an appropriate 10 of. thewashingmachme flietubularetendarll 1921. Serial No. 467,546.

is bolted, presenting at its top a vertical cylinder 12 having a horizontal bearing flange or table13 provided with indexin .notches 14, the bottom of said cylindrica portion 12 opening to a shaft-casin or extension 15 that is disposed at a slig t angle (if necessary) to the portion 12 to lead the power shaft to a convenient point of power derivation that need not necessarily align with the axis of cylinder 12.

A wringer-carrying head 16 is mounted toturn in the vertical cylinder 12 of the standard 11 and carries latching means for cooperation with the notched flange or turntable 13 so that the wringer, extending horizontally from thehead, may be positioned in any one of several selective ositions of rotation about the axis of the cy inder,

The hollow stem 17 of the wringer-carrying head 16 slipped endwise into and confined in the cylinder 12, extends almost to the angle of the extension 15,- and above the plemental crown gear 24 the up-thrust of which is taken against the end of the headstem 17 and the stem of which is apertured to receive the squared end of the vertical.

drive shaft 25, which extends axially through 'Cthe shell 16. 'At its reduced u per end this shaft 25 enters and bears in t e bottom of an oil-cup bearing 26, the latter being normally closed by hm ed dust cap 27. A nut 28 is screwed on t e end. of-' the shaft to suspend the latterfrom the oil on in turn is mounted-in a hollow ha 29 of the slggll 18.he'l1hrou' h tliisl cup lubricant .ma su totewoegeari ten? in the libad 18. ng m Opposed bevel gears 30 and 51 at the hot, I

tom and of the shell are loose on the shaft 25 an both thereof constant] mesh with a 82 the hub oiwhi been in bearin web 33 of the member 20, this gear 32 shaft of one of the wringer rolls, that has a D-shaped or other non-circular end for nonrotatable, slip connection with the gear.

Each of the gears 30, has a clutch crown, as shown at 34, 34' for cooperation with the clutch member slidable axially on but non-rotatable with respect to the power shaft 25, so that by throwing the clutch 35 into engagement with the appropriate gear 30 or 31 the gear 32 and the wringer shaft may be driven in either direction, selectively. I

I make provision to insure that whenever the clutch 35 engages one of the gears 30 or 31 the rotatable head 18 shall be locked against rotation. In the absence of such safety provision the clutch of either loose gear tothe shaft 25 while the latter is in rotationn'iight cause the head 18 to swing around with the shaft and the consequent power-impelled swing of the laterallyprojecting or overhanging wringer dangerous to the operator. To obviate this danger I provide a single control handle 37 to govern both the head-latching operation and the-clutch-shifting operation, the organization being such that the head 18 must be latched against rotation before the shiftable clutch member 35 can possibly engage either of the loose gears 30 or 31. Thus the handle 37 is attached to a controlling shaft 38, preferably a large, generally-cylindrical block, that has at one end a clutch-shifting crank pin 39 and between its ends a latchcontrolling portion or flat cam 40., these being preferably set at right angles or in quadrant cranking relation so that, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, when the flat face of cam 40 is, directly centered above the axis of the shaft, crank 39 horizontally aligns with the axis of the shaft. This dualcontrol shaft, extending through a suitable. 'hub 41 of the shell, has its crank pin 39 engaging a shipper block 42 riding in grooved belt of the clutch member 35. .The

cam 40 may be merely a flat in the shaft, flanked by short guide-and-stop grooves 40 for coaction with. the flattened end of a depressible latch finger .43, such finger sliding in a pocket formed in shell 18, and having its lower end squarred and arranged, when the finger is cam-pressed to enter a selected one of the notches 14 of the indexing table 13. Aspring cap 'or clip 44 is bolted to the bottom of the shell, outside of the peripheryof plate 13, and reaches under the e ge to the plate and a spring 45 is mounted in said .cap and works past. the edge of its upper level, where the latch nose rides just above the surfaces of the notched plate orrtable 13. Thus, when the control shaft 38 isturned it first forces the latch down eing engaged with the driving.

into engagement with a table-notch, and until this has been done the clutch cannot be thrown, by pin 39, to connect the owershaft and wringer-shaft. Further, it will be noted, the clip 44 acts as a detachable retainer for holding the head on the standard, and by detaching this clip the whole head and wringer mechanism may be lifted off bodily, the shaft 25 slipping out of gear 24 without disturbingthe gear.

It will be observed that oil or grease introduced into the cup 26 may distribute itself throughout the gearing parts, without danger of getting over into the wringer rolls or bearings, since the spacing collar 20 forms a cylindrical receptacle of considerable diameter and length, into which any oil working out around the gear 32 may pass, and whence such oil will be returned into the gearing shell through the duct 20 leading through the bearing web of the collar 20. To guard the joint between the head 18 and standard 12, a drip-shield 47 47 with a down-turned flange may be provided in the joint. Bolts 49 extending through the bearing web 33 of the collar 20 engage the adjacent side frame, 50 of the wringer 21, and hold the wringer with its frame boss 50' snugly engaging the end of the collar 20.

The wringer frame is preferably composed of two end members 50, 51,.each in the form of a casting formed as a vertical plate somewhat wider than the diameter of the wringer rolls, with the upper ortion of the plate bordered by an inwardly facing flange 52 affording parallel vertical legs and arounded top. I provide a sheet-metal top plece 53 of channel-formation to enter under the flanges 52 and be retained in posi- 4 tion with its ends, notched as at 54 to give only 3-point bearing, abutting against the plate surfaces, by suitable tie-rods 55, of which two are provided on op osite sides of the longitudinal center of tie top bar. By this construction, among its other advantages, itis unnecessary to machine the bar-receiving surfaces of the castings 50, 50'. The bottom of the frame is provided by a shouldered tie-rod 56 above which there is pivoted as at 57 a tiltable table 58 carrying a s ring or spring 59 which cooperate with t e tie-rod to hold the table tilted to one side or the other of horizontal POSliJlOIL The shaft 60 for the lower roll 61 is mounted in suitable ball bearin '62 fixedly located in recessed bosses 63 of t e end frame members, theupper, bodily displaceable roll 64 having its shaft 65 mounted in ball bearings 66 which are mounted in cup-recesses plate 13 so tending to hold the latch at in a pair of vertically slidable members 67 that act as combined guide-plates, bearing plates and shields. These members 67 have their upper ends guiiledly extending. into the channel of the top frame member 53 and their bottom portions slotted as at 68 for sliding guidance upon hearing portions of the shaft 60, an outwardly projecting stud 69 being provided on the upper P01131011, of each said plate to rest against the contiguous end frame member 50 or 51 to keep the top of the plate from tilting outwardly. Of course the two shafts 60 and 65 are equipped with suitable gears 70 and 71 on their outer ends, beyond their respective bearings, for rotating the shafts oppositely in unison when in mesh. and this gearing may be covered with a demountable housing 72 secured on the exterior of plate 51.

To remove a wring-er roll, one has merely to remove the gear housing and the gears and take oil" the outer end casting 51 whereupon the sha't't'fiO maybe withdrawn from engagement with gear 32 without disturbing the latter.

A semi-elliptic leaf spring 73 bears 'on the upper portion of the two slide plates '67 and extends up into the channel of the top plate to receive centrally the pressure of a tensioning screw 74 which is carried by. the top plate. For quick-release, to safeguard the operator against injury, screw 7 4 is made to engage with a nut 7 5 carried by a gate 76 that is pivoted as at 7 7 to the top member.

53 sovas to be capable of swinging upwardly, the free end of said gate being normally latched down by a latch lever 78. In this provision the construction may economically and satisfactorily be made as follows: The sheet-metal channel-formed top-member 53 V has a central portion cut and struck outwardly to provide two parallel ears 80 affording supportto the horizontal pivot 77 for the gate andto the pivot 78' for the latch 78. Gate 7 6 is formed of sheet-metal, channel-shaped in cross-section, and in the side walls of its channel are formed integral lugs 81 to receive the tension spring 82,

wrapped around the pivot 77 and engaging the top member of the frame, so as to tend to swing the gate downwardly towards Centrally of its length the channel of the gate snugly receives the squared nut- 75 secured in position in any suitable fashion, as by being formed with a tubular extension 75' swaged ina suitable opening in the gate. The latch lever 78 may be of sheet-metal, of channel form in cross-section, having. a nose 78 to coact with the nose 76 of the gate to latch the latter in normal position, the lever being normally held by a spring 83 in latching position.

lVhcn the screw 7 6 has been turned down to put a tension on the roll-spring 73, quick release of the tension may be accomplished by knocking the release lever 78 downward, so freeing the nose of the gate 76, permitting spring 73 to force the gate upward against the tension of light spring 82, the

latter merely preventing forceful overconnected with and rotatable in the upper standard portion, a vertical shaft in said head having on its lower end a conoidal crowngear engaging that on the first said shaft, and wringer means, carried by the head and having gear connection with the head-carried shaft.

2. In a power driven swinging wringen structure, the combination of a vertically bored standard having a notched flange, a head bearing on said flange and having a stem entering said bore, a vertical shaft member carried by said head, a wringer structure carried by said head and having a horizontal shaft, reversible gearing between said head-shaft and wringer shaft, latchmeans for engaging the standard-flange notches to position the wringer-struct-ure, a spring-receptive cap detachably carried by the head and engaging under the flange, and a spring in said cap for normally pressing the latch toward releasing position.

ALVA J. FISHER. 

